Can't Get You Out of My Head
Can't Get You Out of My Head is the lead single from Kylie Minogue's 8th studio album "Fever." It was written & produced by Cathy Dennis and Rob Davis. The single was first released in Australia on September 8, 2001, the United Kingdom on September 17, 2001 and the United States on February 18, 2002. The song is famous for its "la la la" hook and is also recognized as Kylie Minogue's signature song. Song Background In 2000, Kylie signed to the Parlophone Records label and released her seventh studio album "Light Years". The disco and Europop inspired album was a critical and commercial success and was later certified four times-platinum in Minogue's native country Australia for shipment of 280,000 units, and platinum in the United Kingdom for shipment of 300,000 units. The song "Spinning Around" was released as the lead single from the album, and it was a commercial success, attaining a platinum certification in Australia for shipment of 70,000 units & a silver certification in the United Kingdom for shipment of 200,000 units. She promoted the album by embarking on the On a Night Like This tour. Kylie premièred "Can't Get You Out of My Head" by performing it during the tour, and soon after, discussion regarding the song "quickly set online messageboards alight." "Can't Get You Out of My Head" was chosen as the lead single from Kylie's eighth studio album "Fever" and it was released on September 8, 2001 by Parlophone in Australia, while in the United Kingdom and other European countries it was released on September 17, 2001. The song was jointly written, composed & produced by Cathy Dennis and Rob Davis. Dennis and Davis had been brought together by British artist manager Simon Fuller, who wanted the duo to come up with a song for British pop group S Club 7. The song was recorded using Cubase music software (which Davis ran on his Mac computer). Davis began playing an acoustic guitar and ran a 125 beats per minute drum loop, on which Dennis (herself a singer who had enjoyed chart success in the United States) began singing the line "I just can't get you out of my head" in the key of D minor. After three and a half hours, the demo was recorded and the vocals were laid afterwards. Dennis called their recording setup for the song "the most primitive set-up you could imagine! Different producers work in different ways. But it's good to be reminded you don’t have to be reliant on equipment. A song is about melody and lyrics and being able to take something away in your memory that is going to haunt you." She also regarded their production as a "very natural and fluid process," saying: "We know how hard we work sometimes to write songs and then spend months picking them to pieces, but this was the easiest process, the chemicals were all happy and working together." But after Fuller heard the demo, he felt that it was wrong for S Club 7 and rejected it; English singer-songwriter Sophie Ellis-Bextor also turned down the offer to record it. Davis then met with Kylie's A&R executive, Jamie Nelson and after hearing the demo cassette of the song, Nelson booked it for Kylie to record later that year. Nelson was impressed by the "vibe" of the song and felt it would please the "danceheads." Although Davis was initially under the impression that the recording deal would be called off later, Kylie became enthusiastic to record the song after hearing 20 seconds of the demo. According to Kylie about her reaction to hearing the demo: "My A&R at the time, Miles Leonard and Jamie Nelson, said, "We've got something. Come into the office. We've got to play you something." So I went to the EMI office, and I had the same reaction you did, about 20 seconds in. I couldn't even fathom what I was hearing. It just... did something. I was beside myself. Then at the end of the song, panic set in. I was saying "Are you sure we've got this song? Don't tell me that we don't! Is it secured? Can we have it?" And we did! And that kick-started a whole different phase in my career." The whole song (including Kylie's vocals) were recorded at Davis's home studio in Surrey. The music (excluding the guitar part) was programmed using Korg Triton workstation via a MIDI. Dennis later remarked: "Even though Kylie wasn't the first artist to be offered the song, I don't believe it was meant to go to anyone other than Kylie, and I don't believe anyone else would have done the incredible job she did with it, with the video, looking super-hot!" Song Composition "Can't Get You Out of My Head" is a "robotic" midtempo dance-pop song, with a tempo of 126 beats per minute. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by EMI Music Publishing, the song is written in the key of C major with Kylie's vocal range spanning from C4 to D5. Kylie chants a "la la la" hook in the song, which is often heralded as its most appealing part. BBC Radio 2 noted that the composition of the song is "deceptively simple, but its veins run with the whole history of electronic music." They described the song's bassline as "pulsing" and recognised influences of English rock band New Order and German electronic music band Kraftwerk. The song does not follow the common verse-chorus structure and is instead composed of numerous "misplaced sections." Dennis reasoned that these sections "somehow work together" as she and Davis "didn't try to force any structure after the event. The seeds were watered and they very quickly sprouted into something bigger than any of us." Likewise, Davis commented: "It breaks a few rules as it starts with a chorus and in comes the 'la's'– that is what confused my publisher Fuller when he first heard it." Through the lyrics of the song, Kylie expresses her obsession with an anonymous figure. Dorian Lynskey from The Guardian termed the song a "mystery" as she never reveals the identity of her object of infatuation. The critic suggested that the person Kylie is referring to is either "a partner, an evasive one-night stand or someone who doesn't know she exists." Writing for the same newspaper, Everett True identified a "darker element" in the simple lyrics and felt this sentiment was echoed in Kylie's restrained vocals. Further, True emphasised that while Kylie's 1987 single "I Should Be So Lucky" had presented an optimistic romantic future, "Can't Get You Out of My Head" focuses on an "unhealthy" and potentially destructive obsession. He also noted that in the former song, Kylie played "the wide-eyed ingénue with alacrity," but in the latter song she is aware of the harmful nature of her infatuation, calling it a "desire that is wholly dependent on her own self-control." In late 2012, "Can't Get You Out of My Head" was re-recorded by Kylie for inclusion in her orchestral compilation album, "The Abbey Road Sessions." On the album, she reworked 16 of her past songs with an orchestra which (according to Nick Levine from BBC Music), "re-imagine them without the disco glitz and vocal effects." The Abbey Road Sessions-version of "Can't Get You Out of My Head" features a "more dramatic, fully fleshed out" musical arrangement and follows a pizzicato playing technique, in which the strings of a string instrument are continuously plucked. Chart Performance In Kylie's native country, Australia, "Can't Get You Out of My Head" entered and peaked at number one on the Australian Singles Chart, on the chart date of 23 September 2001, and remained at the position for four weeks. During its last week on the chart, on 9 December 2001, the song was at number 48, and had spent a total of 12 weeks on the chart. In this region, it was certified triple-platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments of 210,000 units. In both the Dutch-speaking Flanders and French-speaking Wallonia regions of Belgium, the song peaked at number one on the Ultratop chart, spending a total of 22 and 24 weeks on the charts, respectively. In Belgium, the song was certified double-platinum for sales of 100,000 units. In France, the song entered the French Singles Chart at number 14 and peaked at number one, spending a total of 41 weeks on the chart. In this region, it was certified platinum by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique for sales of 500,000 units. As of August 2014, "Can't Get You Out of My Head" was the 22nd best-selling single of the 21st century in France, with 542,000 units sold. In Germany, the song remained at number one for one week on the German Singles Chart. In this region, it was certified platinum by the Federal Association of Music Industry for shipments of 500,000 units. In Ireland, the song entered and peaked at number one on the Ireland Singles Chart, spending a total of consecutive 19 weeks on the chart. In the United Kingdom, the single faced competition in a hugely hyped chart battle with Victoria Beckham's single "Not Such an Innocent Girl." On the chart date of September 29, 2001, "Can't Get You Out of My Head" debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart with first week sales of 306,000 units while "Not Such an Innocent Girl" debuted at number six with first week sales of 35,000 units. It spent four weeks at number one, and a total of 25 weeks inside the top 40 on the chart. The song spent a record-breaking eight weeks at number one on the airplay chart of the country and became the first to garner 3000 radio plays in a single week. Subsequently, it became the most-played song of 2001 in the region. "Can't Get You Out of My Head" was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry for shipments of 600,000 units in 2001. The certification was upgraded to double-platinum in 2015, denoting shipments of 1,200,000 units. In the United States, "Can't Get You Out of My Head" peaked at number seven on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming Kylie's best selling single in the region since her interpretation of "The Loco-Motion." Additionally, the song peaked at number one on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart, at number 23 on the Adult Top 40 chart, at number three on the Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs) chart, and number eight on the Radio Songs chart. In this region, the song was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of 500,000 units. Critical Reception "Can't Get You Out of My Head" was positively received by music critics. Chris True from AllMusic picked the song as a highlight of "Fever", commenting that it "pulses and grooves like no other she's Minogue's recorded." Jason Thompson from PopMatters described Kylie's vocals as a "sexual come on" and called the song "trim and funky, certainly something that couldn't miss anywhere." Dominique Leone from Pitchfork Media praised the commercial prospect of the song, saying that it "exudes a catchiness that belies its inherent simplicity, so reassuring during an era when chart acts sound increasingly baroque and producers race to see who can ape electronic music trends first." Jim Farber from Entertainment Weekly said that the song "fully lives up to its title" with "every sound a hook" and compared it to the works of Andrea True. Michael Hubbard from MusicOMH labelled the song "one of 2001's best singles," saying that it "predictably beat off lesser competition." In 2012, The Guardian critic Everett True defined "Can't Get You Out of My Head" as "one of those rare moments in pop: sleek and chic and stylish and damnably danceable, but with a darker element hidden in plain sight." The Abbey Road Sessions–version of the song received generally positive reviews. Tim Sendra from AllMusic felt that "most interesting reboot" in the album took place on "Can't Get You Out of My Head," saying that the "insistent strings push the song along with a tightly coiled electricity that is impossible to resist." He also picked the song as a highlight on the album. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine chose the song as one of the "standouts" on the album, saying that its arrangement "compensate for the lack of synthetic dance beats and vocal effects." Tania Zeine from ARIA Charts described the track as a "powerful violin ballad with the accompaniment of a large orchestra throughout the remainder." Simon Price from The Independent said that while the original version of "Can't Get You Out of My Head" would be "impossible to improve on," the reworked version "turns it into a pizzicato thriller score." Jude Rogers from The Quietus, however, felt that the song does not "respond well to this orchestral treatment." Music Video The accompanying music video for "Can't Get You Out of My Head" was directed by Dawn Shadforth, and featured dance routines choreographed by Michael Rooney. Early in Kylie's career, her youthful look, slim figure, and her "proportionally" large mouth attracted comments from various critics with British red top newspaper "News of the World" speculating that Kylie could possibly be an alien. Later while discussing the video, Shadforth and music critic Paul Morley took this "bizarre suggestion" into consideration to comment on Kylie as a "creative, experimental artist." Shadforth blocked some shots of the initial driving scene based upon similar shots of Shirley Manson piloting an airplane in her award-winning dogfight clip for Garbage's song "Special." The video was released on August 11, 2001. It begins with Kylie driving a De Tomaso Mangusta sports car on a futuristic bridge while singing the "la la la" hook of the song. The next scene consists of a number of dance couples performing a dance routine dressed in black and white costumes; they are soon joined by Kylie, who is seen wearing a white tracksuit. The setting changes to a room where Kylie is seen striking various poses sporting bright crimson lipstick and a hooded white jumpsuit with a neckline plunging down to her navel. The outfit was designed by London-based fashion designer Fee Doran (under the label of Mrs Jones). Kylie then performs a synchronised dance routine with several backup dancers, who are wearing red and black suits. As the video ends, Kylie performs a similar routine on the top of a building during the night, but this time, wearing a lavender halter neck dress with ribbon tile trim. Various scenes in the video show her face "unusually" close to the lens of the camera, thus it "subtly distorts, yet remains glamorous." Shadforth felt the shot gave a "sort of sense of intimacy and as you say a sort of strangeness," again drawing upon the suggestion of Minogue being an alien. Similarly, Morley opined that it was "the side of Kylie that suddenly reveals itself as being experimental, she is prepared to push herself into positions and shapes that might not be conventionally attractive ... She becomes alien Kylie as well." Legacy The hooded white jumpsuit that Kylie wore in the music video is often considered to be one of her most iconic looks, particularly due to its deep plunging neckline. British fashion designer and Kylie's stylist William Baker described the choice of the outift, saying it was "it was pure but kind of slutty at the same time." The outfit was put on display at "Kylie: The Exhibition" an exhibition that featured "costumes and memorabilia collected over Kylie's career" that was held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England, and at Kylie: an exhibition, a similar exhibition held at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia. It was also included in Kylie's official fashion photography book "Kylie\Fashion" which was released on November 19, 2012 by Thames and Hudson to celebrate her completion of 25 years in music. The music video served as an inspiration for Morley while writing his book "Words and Music: the history of pop in the shape of a city." In the book, Morley "turned the lonely drive she Minogue made in the song's video towards a city ... into a fictional history of music," referring to the opening sequence of the music video. The critic takes a ride with Kylie through a city and encounters various musicians and artists like the ghost of Elvis Presley, and Madonna, Kraftwerk, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Academics Diane Railton and Paul Weston in their 2005 essay "Naughty Girls and Red Blooded Women (Representations of Female Heterosexuality in Music Video)" contrasted the music video of "Can't Get You Out of My Head" with that of American singer Beyoncé's 2003 single "Baby Boy." Railton and Weston concluded that while both videos focus on two singers performing seductive dance routines, Kylie is presented in a calculated manner and "is always provisional, restricted, and contingent" whereas Beyoncé displays a particular "primitive, feral, uncontrolled and uncontrollable" sexuality embodied by the black female body. The two felt that the videos were representative of the raced depictions of white and black women in colonial times and pop culture, respectively. Accolades At the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards ceremony, the music video for "Can't Get You Out of My Head" was nominated for "Best Dance Video" while Michael Rooney won the award for "Best Choreography." Category:Songs Category:Singles